Microsoft Employee Bequeaths Bulk of His $175-Million Fortune to Charity

Richard W. Weiland, one of the first Microsoft employees, has bequeathed most of his fortune, worth an estimated $175-million, to charities.

The biggest single commitment, $65-million, went to the Pride Foundation, a Seattle foundation that advocates for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, and supports HIV/AIDS organizations.

Mr. Weiland, whose estate was only recently settled, died in June 2006 at age 53. He committed suicide after fighting depression.

His second biggest gift — $60-million — went to his alma mater, Stanford University.

The donation to the Pride Foundation is believed to be the largest bequest to support gay-rights groups in the United States.

In his will, Mr. Weiland stipulated that he wanted $46-million of the bequest to be used to set up a special fund, which Pride officials have named the Weiland Designated Fund, to benefit 10 nonprofit groups chosen by Mr. Weiland: Amfar, the Foundation for AIDS Research; Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation; Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network; In the Life; International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission; Lambda Legal; National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays; Project Inform; and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

He earmarked the remaining $19-million for the Pride Foundation’s endowment and its scholarship program.

A longtime donor to the 10 groups, as well as to Pride, Mr. Weiland left specific instructions in his will about what percentage of his donation each group would receive. He did not place any restrictions on how the groups should use the money.

School Ties

Mr. Weiland attended the Lakeside School, a private school in Seattle, where he befriended Paul Allen, who with Bill Gates founded Microsoft. After graduating from Stanford University in 1976, Mr. Weiland joined the fledgling software company, where he helped design and program some of the first interface systems for personal computers.

He started donating to Pride and to most of the beneficiaries of the designated fund in the 1990s, giving $35 to $1,000. His donations to the groups grew bigger, often reaching tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars, by the end of the decade.

“He was very hands-off as a donor, although he closely followed the work that was being done,” said Kevin Cathcart, executive director of Lambda Legal, who said he thinks Mr. Weiland’s bequest sets a new bar for financially affluent people who support gay causes.

He served as a board member of both the Pride Foundation and the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network. People who knew Mr. Weiland described him as intelligent, yet unassuming, modest, and quiet.

“He’d come to a board meeting and might say one thing the entire time, but when he did, everyone listened very closely,” said Audrey Haberman, executive director of the Pride Foundation.

He also had a sense of humor, often referring to himself as an “entreprenerd,” said Kevin Jennings, founder of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network.

“He’d done so much to alleviate other people’s pain and had never asked for anything in return,” said Mr. Jennings. “He helped so many organizations, and here, obviously, he needed some help and we didn’t even know.”

In addition to his donation to the Pride Foundation, Mr. Weiland left approximately $13-million to the Nature Conservancy; $8-million apiece to the Children’s Hospital Foundation and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, both in Seattle; $7.6-million to Seattle’s United Way; and $3.1-million to the Sierra Club Foundation, in San Francisco.

He also left $3.2-million apiece to Environmental Defense, in New York; the Lakeside School; and the National Wildlife Federation, in Reston, Va.